Erika Lindemann
Founded shortly after the
University opened, the
Philanthropic and
Dialectic Societies constituted the oldest student
organizations on campus and provided a significant extra-curriculum of
composition, declamation, and debate that prepared students for professions
such as law, teaching, and the ministry. The original
Debating
Society, established on June 3, 1795, under the leadership of
mathematics tutor
Charles
Wilson Harris
, a graduate of the
College
of New Jersey
(Princeton), had as its aim "to cultivate a lasting
Friendship with each other, and to Promote useful Knowledge" (
Connor
1:478). Three weeks later, a number of students left the
Debating
Society to form a new organization,
The Concord
Society. A year later, in August 1796, both groups chose Greek names.
The Debating
Society became the
Dialectic
Society; its motto was
Virtus et Scientia ([Love
of] Virtue and Science), and its color was light blue, signifying truth.
The Concord
Society became the
Philanthropic Society; its motto was
Virtus, Libertas, et Scientia (Virtue, Liberty, and
Science), and its color was white, the emblem of purity. Early society diplomas
bear ribbons in the respective colors of each society, and every member
received an elaborate badge bearing the society's colors, which he was supposed
to wear to meetings and on public occasions. Commencement ball managers also
sported their society's colors in elaborate sashes worn diagonally across the
chest or in arm bands with streamers that, like modern fraternity pins, could
be presented to girlfriends at the end of the commencement ball.
Competition among the societies for new members was keen at the
beginning of each school year, especially in the early years. Society
representatives virtually ambushed new students when they arrived on campus and
sometimes rode several miles out of town to meet them. In time, however, and
certainly by the 1840s, society membership was determined by where a student
lived. Students from counties west of
Chapel
Hill joined the
Dis;
students from the eastern part of the
state, the
Phis. Out-of-state students (and some students from central
North
Carolina counties) selected the society that suited them. Though
geography may seem a peculiar means of determining membership in an
organization, the east-west distinction corresponded generally to those
sectional differences in politics, religion, and way of life that characterized
the backgrounds of
North
Carolina students. Even the geography of the campus played a role.
Phis
lived in
Old East, the
eastern half of
South
Building, and
New East;
Dis, in
Old West, the
western half of
South
Building, and
New West.
1
Competition characterized other aspects of society life as well. The
first order of business in the original
Debating
Society had been to reserve money for the purchase of books (
Connor
1:483), a priority that continued throughout the antebellum period. "When
one library got a book,"
William Hooper
reported, "the other must have the
same book, only more handsomely bound, if possible."
2
The student-librarian for each society maintained circulation records, which
still survive, inscribing every society member's name at the top of a page in a
large ledger and recording underneath which books a student had checked out.
Townspeople also had borrowing privileges, and students belonging to one
society occasionally borrowed books from the other society's library. According
to
Richard
Henry Lewis
, a member of the
Dialectic
Society from 1848 to 1852, "The [
Dialectic
Society] library was opened twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday.
Members could keep books out two weeks."
3
In the
Philanthropic Society, the borrowing period appears to have
shorter; the minutes for March 17, 1855, record a fine of fifteen cents for
each volume checked out for more than a week (
Vol. S-13, UA). Writing in a book
or defacing its cover carried a $1 fine. Borrowed books had to be
protected by cloth covers provided by the librarian. The librarian, who was
assisted by sub-librarians, was responsible for opening the library on time,
keeping the books in order, having books bound, and reporting at the end of his
term "all books purchased, presented and labelled." Minutes for both
societies record motions to purchase books as well as resolutions of thanks to
alumni and honorary members who donated books to a society's library.
Over time the societies also built impressive portrait collections
of their distinguished alumni. "The competition which created such large
libraries also created the largest privately owned portrait collections in the
State—visually commemorating the long succession of
governors, senators, cabinet officials, scientists, and jurists who have issued
from the halls of the Societies" (
Brigman 2). Though these dignitaries
commissioned and paid for their own portraits, an invitation to contribute a
portrait for display on the walls of a society's meeting hall was considered an
honor. The portrait collections contain works by such noted artists as
Eastman
Johnson,
Charles
Wilson Peale
, and
Thomas
Sully.
At first the societies met on different evenings in the old chapel,
Person
Hall, but by 1814 they had their own chambers on opposite sides of the
third-floor corridor in
South
Building. When
Old East and
Old West were
expanded in 1848, the
Di
and
Phi halls were located on the second floor of
Old West and
Old East
respectively, with the libraries on the third floor. By 1861 new halls and
libraries were furnished on the second and third floors of
New West and
New East.
4
The elegant halls were a source of pride and made a significant
impression on many initiates. Approximately five weeks into the semester,
candidates for initiation would wait nervously in the anteroom while, behind
closed doors, the current members voted on the prospective members' admission
to the society. Opposition by two or more members was sufficient to deny
membership. Once the votes were tallied, as
Richard
H. Lewis
explains, "the door of the hall was opened and we were
marshalled in a semicircle in front of the president's chair of state. Shall we
ever forget that moment!" (
Lewis 13). "The [
Dialectic
Society] hall was a handsome one for its day—we thought it
gorgeous,"
Lewis
recalls. "As a centerpiece for the ceiling it
had a gilt circle formed of letters making the name, date of organization, and
motto of the
Society. Upon this charmed circle the eyes of the young
Freshman of fifteen summers gazed with reverential admiration. And afterwards,
during the Friday night sessions of the body, much of his time was employed in
wondering how the painter got up there to paint that circle, the debates having
very little interest for the restless boy" (
Lewis 12). For
Dialectic
Society members, the president's appearance must have been just as
impressive, for he sat on a dais wearing a dignified beaver hat and carrying a
gold-headed cane.
The president led the new members in a brief address or pledge, in
which they expressed their willingness to uphold the aims of the organization.
The "Address to Regular Members" of the
Dialectic
Society was as follows:
We the undernamed students of the
University of north Carolina willing to cultivate a lasting
friendship with each other and to promote useful Knowledge, have cheerfully
joined in a Society to be known by the name of the
Dialectic Society:
We also solemnly promise and pledge ourselves to one
another, that each of us will do our endeavours to support this
Society in credit and to our mutual advantage, by a proper
obedience to the Laws which shall be made for its regulation, and by a dew
performance of all the regular exercises, which shall be required from us in a
social capacity. That by this conduct being instrumental in acquiring
knowledge, we may contract a friendship, which shall not be forgotten when we
meet in the serious business of life. In witness whereof we have set our names
and seals.
5
Each initiate then signed the secretary's register and
took his seat in the hall. In 1795 the initiation fee was $.25; by 1855
it was $10, the equivalent of one month's board.
As the minutes of the
Dialectic and
Philanthropic Societies reveal, the societies differed only
slightly with respect to their officers and activities. Each society elected a
president, who delivered an inaugural address on assuming the chair and who
held office for four to six weeks.
Dis
also elected a vice president. A secretary or scribe kept the minutes; a
treasurer maintained the society's financial records; and the librarian was
responsible for the library. Query committees of three or four students devised
the topics for debate, which were announced two weeks in advance. Each society
also elected officers who monitored the behavior of students during meetings
and reported infractions of the rules that resulted in fines. The
Dis
called this officer a censor morum; the
Phis, a supervisor.
Two correctors were elected in each society to review students'
compositions.
6
Prior to the 1830s the
Dialectic
Society correctors often wrote on the compositions themselves that they
had been read. Compositions filed in the
Society's papers after that date generally are unmarked. In
the 1850s the
Dialectic
Society correctors also issued reports at the expiration of their terms
of office, commenting generally on the quality of members' declamations,
compositions, and the neatness of the secretary's and treasurer's records. On
October 17, 1851, for example, the correctors noted that members were not
taking their duties seriously enough. "In the department of
declamations," they reported, "when duty is to be performed in this
hall, some old worn-out, hackneyed speech is selected, the sentiments grunted
out and the feeling, pathetic parts are smothered up in a frigid, careless,
lifeless manner, that would freeze to death an
Icelander" (
Dialectic
Society Correctors' Reports, UA). Students were free to select their own
subjects for compositions, but they were expected to prepare new work. The
correctors persistently complained that members were submitting writings that
already had been corrected by the professor of rhetoric. Some students
evidently preferred to pay fines instead of composing and declaiming. In the
Philanthropic Society the fine for failing to declaim or to
hand in a composition was $1; for writing a composition less than thirty
lines long, $.50; for failing to read the composition loud enough,
$.50; for declaiming "with stick in hand," $.25 (
March
17, 1855, Vol. S-13, UA).
An officer unique to the
Philanthropic Society was the "Reader," whose
duties were to maintain the
Society's archives and to read aloud materials that members
left in a locked "Reader's Box" in the meeting hall. Showing these
materials to other members was punishable by a $1 fine. The Reader's Box
guaranteed a student anonymity. He could complain about fellow members'
deportment during
Society meetings, for example, by placing an unsigned letter
addressed "Dear Reader" into the box.
Minutes from the
Dialectic
Society meeting for September 25, 1857, reveal that students in that
society also elected a museum keeper, archivist, and monitor. Monitors were
responsible for reporting the misbehavior of students living on various
"passages" or dormitory halls. The archivist kept track of the
inaugural addresses, debates, and compositions that members voted "to be
filed" in the
Society's archives. The museum keeper, a relatively new
officer in the history of the
Dialectic
Society, appears to have been charged with collecting artifacts,
memorabilia, and curiosities donated by alumni and bearing on the
University's history.
The central activities of both the
Dialectic and
Philanthropic Societies were composition, declamation, and
debate. These regular duties were assigned in rotation to all society members,
who were distributed into four classes.
7
One week the first class declaimed and the second class wrote compositions,
while the third and fourth classes debated. The next week the third and fourth
classes declaimed and wrote compositions, while the first and second classes
led the debate. And so on. Seniors were excused from declamation and writing
compositions, but they were required to take part in the debates. Seniors also
tended to be elected officers, which made their presence at all meetings
necessary. Other seniors attended only if their "class" was taking
part in the debate. Debates "came on" during the Friday night
meetings in both societies. On Saturday mornings the societies assembled again
to hear declamations and compositions.
Two or three weeks prior to each scheduled debate, the society
president appointed the principal debaters, one from each class scheduled to
perform this duty, and one or two assistants for each side of the question. In
the
Dialectic
Society each principal debater had one assistant; in the
Philanthropic Society, two. The query or question framing
the debate also was announced in advance, and one of the principal debaters
would be given the choice of sides, affirmative or negative. Disputants were
expected to deliver written speeches to open the debate. When they had
finished, others in the two classes whose duty it was to debate continued the
discussion. Then the question was opened to general discussion, and any member
who wished could speak if he could get the floor. Finally, all members voted,
the secretary recording in the minutes which side of the question had
carried.
This procedure was fairly standard in college debating societies all
over
America in
the antebellum period. The following minutes, which describe the debate that
took place in the
Dialectic
Society the night of June 2, 1857, are typical:
Dialectic Hall.
June. 2nd 1857
Society Convened:
The President called the house to order, and delivered his Inaugeral.
Admittance of members being in order, Messrs
Lovejoy,
Faison,
George
Sloan, and
Payton were admitted as transient members. There being no
regular motions, the Junior Debate was next in order., whereupon the following
Query was discussed: "Are men of Action more beneficial to the world than
men of Thought?"
It was decided in favor of the Negative. There being
no further business the
Society adjourned.
Joseph
Graham, President.
Franc. D. Stockton, Scriba.
Jas. T. Morehead, V. Pres. (Vol. S-12, UA)
What the minutes do not reveal, however, is how long the debate lasted and
what procedures the principals and their assistants followed in presenting
their arguments. For that information, we must look at the speeches themselves.
No antebellum debate speeches survive among the papers of the
Philanthropic
Society, but fortunately, the
Dialectic
Society papers preserve a few complete sets of four speeches. One set
included in this project was delivered on June 22, 1836, and addresses the
question "Should the office of Chief Magistrate be awarded to one
distinguished for his military services rather than to one distinguished for
his civil services?" Another set takes up the query recorded in the
Dialectic
Society minutes for June 2, 1857, "Are men of action more
beneficial to the world than men of thought?" Though the speeches are
long, they are included in their entirety to give a realistic sense of what
students would have heard in the debating hall.
8
The speeches reveal that the disputants alternated sides of the question.
The principal speaker affirming the question opened the debate. He was followed
by the principal speaker on the negative side. Then the assistant on the
affirmative side responded, followed by the assistant on the negative side. On
June 2, 1857, then, the order of speaking was
Brown
,
Jones
,
McAfee
,
and
Coleman
. Because each speech (except
Brown's
)
includes verbatim quotations from the previous speaker's text,
Brown
,
Jones
, and
McAfee
must have provided, in advance, drafts of their speeches to the student who
followed them in debate. The four speeches also vary in length, the assistants'
speeches being approximately half as long as those of the principals.
Delivering all four speeches would have taken about an hour and a half. How
much additional time would have been given over to subsequent discussion
depended on the topic and on how much controversy the four preliminary speakers
generated. All told, Friday night's
society
meetings typically lasted two to three hours. Meetings began at 7:30 p.m. and
usually ended by 10:00 p.m. However, if the discussion became especially
energetic, debates might go on until after midnight.
Whether men of thought or action were more beneficial to society
represents the sort of philosophical question that query committees often
submitted for debate. Students discussed other issues as well, especially
historical and contemporary political questions. Query committees occasionally
resurrected topics that had been discussed a year or two before—"Is
duelling justifiable?" or "Was
England justified in
banishing
Napoleon
to the island of
St. Helena?"
Sometimes society members reversed their opinions, voting affirmatively one
year and negatively the next time the question was debated. Some students
doubtless voted for the side argued by popular classmates, regardless of the
quality of the arguments. For these reasons, we cannot draw valid inferences
about the antebellum "student mind" from the society debates. At best
the subjects selected to frame these discussions reveal students' broad
interests. The following list offers a small sample of questions debated in the
Dialectic
Society halls during the 1850s:
1850 Should slavery as it now exists in our country be justly
considered a reproach? (negative)
1850 Should the
United
States stop diplomatic correspondence with
Austria?
(negative)
1851 Were the wars of
Napoleon
Bonaparte beneficial to
Europe?
(negative)
1851 Has a state the right to secede? (negative)
1851 Was the
Mexican war
justifiable? (negative)
1852 Would it be expedient for the
legislature of North Carolina to pass the
Maine liquor law?
(affirmative)
1852 Should the general government afford any assistance to the
Colonization Society? (affirmative)
1853 Ought
Judge
Hall to have fined
Gen.
Jackson
when
New
Orleans was under martial law? (negative)
1854 Are we progressing? (negative)
1854 Should any more foreigners be naturalized? (negative)
1854 Is extension of territory detrimental to the
United
States? (affirmative)
1854 Should
Cuba be annexed to
the
United
States? (affirmative)
1855 Is
southern slavery
justifiable? (affirmative)
1855 Does civilization increase happiness? (affirmative)
1856 Ought our government to favor the building of the
Pacific
Railroad? (negative)
1857 Should representatives be ruled by their constituents?
(affirmative)
1857 Should the
United
States establish a national bank at the present financial crisis?
(affirmative)
1858 Should the
United
States punish the
Mormons as
traitors? (affirmative)
1858 Should a college be located in a city or in the country?
(decision not recorded)
1859 Ought the
United
States to extend her territory? (affirmative)
1859 Is the existence of two great political parties in the
United
States desirable? (affirmative)
1859 Ought the
United
States to aid in building a
Pacific
Railroad? (affirmative)
1859 Would disunion be profitable to the
South?
(negative)
As the
University grew, so did the societies. By 1855, when the meeting halls
and dormitories began to be seriously overcrowded, the
Philanthropic
Society was forced to consider how it could squeeze 151 members into its
hall without reducing the number of compositions, debates, and declamations
each member prepared in a semester. The solution was to divide the
Society
into "three grand classes," excuse in rotation one class each week
from the regular Friday night and Saturday morning meetings, and increase the
number of weeks the
Society
met during the year. In this way
Phis
might still perform "a duty" every three weeks, preparing at least
three compositions and three declamations in an eighteen-week session. But the
solution was far from ideal, and
Society
members still worried about fellow students who could not live in campus
residence halls but were scattered in the increasingly numerous boarding houses
located in
Chapel Hill
and the surrounding countryside.
9
Fines were vital sources of income for each society and promoted order
during society meetings. Minutes customarily conclude with officers
"making their reports," announcing by name those students who owed
fines for infractions of society regulations. When a three-member committee of
the
Philanthropic
Society revised its regulations in March 1855, it listed 102
misdemeanors drawing fines (
Vol. S-13, UA). Some of the fines addressed conduct
in the meeting hall: putting feet on furniture ($1), spitting on the
floor or hearth ($.25), reading during a meeting ($1), writing in
the hall ($.25), playing with or touching tassels on the draperies
($.25), being absent from
Society
($3), being late ($.50 for each half hour), striking a member in
anger in the hall ($5), staying out over five minutes (from $.05
to $.30), failing to prepare a debate as principal ($1), as
assistant ($.50), creeping out of the hall ($2), talking without
permission ($.05), laughing loud ($.10), whittling or sleeping or
eating in the hall ($.50), interrupting a debate or speaking more than
twice without permission ($.25), making signs or improper remarks
($.25), leaning against the post or wall ($.50), refusing to vote
for officers ($.05 for each officer omitted), having one's hat in hand
before the society adjourned ($.50). Other regulations encouraged
officers and committee members to do their work conscientiously and stipulated
penalties for misusing the library.
Some of the fines levied against society members indicate that these
student organizations cooperated with faculty members in maintaining campus
discipline. Though students breaking any of the following college rules might
be sanctioned by the faculty, they also were liable to being fined by their
society: injuring trees or playing ball in college buildings ($.25),
disturbing students during study hours ($.25), breaking glass
($.15 to $.25), burning gunpowder in college buildings
($.10 to $1), engaging in a blacking club, a hazing ritual
whereby first-year students were smeared with lamp black ($5),
10 and
dumping "water," a euphemism for urine, from dormitory windows
($1).
11 For
most students, these fines amounted to significant sums of money. A dollar in
1855 represented the cost of a textbook, a month's laundry, or having a pair of
shoes repaired. The largest fine of $20 was reserved for a student's
keeping a room to himself at the beginning of the school year and refusing to
draw lots for a new roommate. In these and other matters the debating societies
sometimes performed the function of student honor courts. In extreme cases the
societies impeached students, especially if theft, violence toward other
students, or gross misconduct could be proven. The faculty and
trustees,
upholding the societies' verdicts, expelled students who had been impeached.
Gov. Swain
typically enlisted the cooperation of the societies in managing student unrest,
and he respected reasonable society decisions affecting commencement activities
and other elements of student life.
Society members sometimes showed considerable generosity toward fellow
students. Each society included among its members "beneficiaries,"
students whose tuition was paid by the society. Approximately four such
students annually received this benefit.
12 When a
student died, members of both societies customarily passed memorial resolutions
pledging to wear crepe arm bands for thirty days out of respect for their dead
classmate.
13 Often
members of the deceased student's society escorted the body home. If distance
or other circumstances made burial back home impractical, the student was
interred in his society's plot in the
Old Chapel
Hill Cemetery, now a part of the
University campus. Enclosed by iron fences and gates, the societies'
plots contain some of the most elaborate tombstones in the
cemetery, purchased by society members who wished to honor
their dead friends.
A society diploma cost $1 and was a valued symbol of the lifelong
associations formed through society membership. On the motion of a fellow
member, the diploma was awarded prior to the
University's commencement to students in good standing—provided
that they had paid their outstanding debts. Because most students formed close
friendships only with members of their own society, they rarely undertook
activities as a single student body. It was as if the antebellum
University comprised two student bodies, the
Dis and the
Phis.
In a few areas of student life, however, the two societies worked together to
achieve common goals. Sponsoring
The North Carolina University
Magazine
14 was one
such enterprise. The commencement ball was another.
The commencement marshall and the chief ball manager both were elected in
the spring semester from among members of the junior class. These elections
were heated, partisan contests involving considerable electioneering.
Candidates often bought their classmates alcohol, first to secure their votes
and then to celebrate the victory. By 1856 the abuses had become intolerable,
and the faculty ordered that only seniors, not the rest of the students, could
vote in the election of the commencement marshall.
Once elected, the marshall selected from each society two or three
sub-marshalls, and the ball manager likewise chose from each society two or
three assistant ball managers. These students were responsible for planning the
commencement ball and raising subscriptions to pay for it. The marshalls were
known for their good manners and
savoir faire, taking
pains to make the social event of the year memorable (
Battle 1:570). They
formed and led the commencement procession on graduation day. They also were
responsible for hiring the band, which played between commencement speeches as
well as for the ball. In a splendid procession involving students, faculty
members, and villagers, the marshalls would ride out of town to meet the
musicians and escort them into
Chapel Hill.
The ball managers, on the other hand, arranged for elegant printed invitations
and dance cards, secured a ballroom, decorated it, and contracted for an
elaborate midnight supper. Ball managers also had the "duty" of
serving as dancing partners for those ladies who had no special beaux.
As
Anne Ruggles
Gere has pointed out in
Writing Groups
, college debating societies offered
students an important extra-curriculum. They established a forum for discussing
political issues and current events. They gave students a chance to read
novels, poetry, biographies, histories, and other works that would not have
been included in college courses of the period. They provided a social outlet
for students in communities that lacked cultural resources, constructive
diversions, and opportunities to meet young women. They also offered weekly
opportunities to practice those skills of reading, writing, argumentation,
elocution, and parliamentary procedure that would serve well a university
graduate seeking a career as a lawyer, minister, politician, or teacher.
Perhaps most important to the students themselves, the
Dialectic
and
Philanthropic Societies promoted lasting friendships that
sustained careers and enriched students' lives long after graduation.
Endnotes:
1. The division of
South
Building was modified some time after 1846,
Dis
taking rooms on the southern side of the building and
Phis occupying northern rooms. This orientation put students
on the side of the building on which their meeting hall and library were
located (
Battle 1:513).
2. "Fifty Years Since,"
The North Carolina University Magazine 9
(June 1860):
583, NCC. A catalogue of books belonging to the societies
prior to 1830 is
Jane C.
Bahnsen,
Books in the
University of North Carolina Library since before
1830
(
Chapel Hill, NC, 1958, typescript, 106 pages). When
Thomas S.
Harding compared catalogues of the
Philanthropic and
Dialectic Societies' library holdings published in 1829 and
1835 respectively, he found approximately forty percent duplication, primarily
of histories, biographies, and novels (
Harding 114). By 1874 each society's
library contained 7,000 to 7,500 books, and when the collections were merged
with the
University's library in 1886, each society contributed
approximately 10,000 volumes (
Battle 2:54,
357).
3.
"A Brief Sketch of the Dialectic Society,
1848-'52,"
Catalogue of the Members of the Dialectic Society (Chapel
Hill, NC: The Dialectic Society, 1890),
14.
4. In the 1920s, when
New East and
New West were
renovated, the society halls were moved to the top floors of the buildings.
Today's joint Di-Phi Society uses the
Phi chamber in
New East for
receptions and the
Di
chamber in
New West for
its meetings. Both rooms boast portraits and busts of alumni as well as dais
furniture that has been used by society officers since 1848.
5.
Dialectic
Society Minutes,
Vol. 5, UA. A slightly different address was read to
transient members, who promised "to cooperate with the regular
members" and who seem to have been associate rather than full members of
the
Society.
6. Article Seven of the
Philanthropic Society's 1858 constitution defines the
correctors' duties as follows:
The two Correctors shall divide the Compositions of each meeting
equally among themselves, after they have been read and deposited on the
Secretary'
s desk, and shall report at the next meeting of
Society all corrections they have made in Grammar, Spelling
or Composition. They shall also examine the minutes of the Secretary and report
upon the same. (
Vol. 4, UA)
7. The
Philanthropic Society broke with the tradition of having
four classes of members in October 1855 to avoid overcrowding its meeting hall.
For most of the antebellum period, however, each society distributed its
members into four classes. Each class was approximately the same size and had
equivalent numbers of seniors, juniors, sophomores, and first-year students.
Members remained in their respective classes throughout their college careers;
that is, a student assigned to the
Dialectic
Society's"third class" upon entering the organization
remained with that class until leaving the
University.
8.
Joseph
Graham's June 2, 1857, fourteen-page inaugural address also survives
Dialectic
Society Addresses, UA). Complete sets of
Dialectic
Society debate speeches from the 1850s also discuss "Were the wars
of
Napoleon
Bonaparte beneficial to
Europe?" and
"Should
Judge
Hall have fined
Gen.
Jackson
?" Both questions were decided in the negative.
9. Much as the
University needed dormitory space, the students assigned
first priority to suitable space for the commencement ball, the most important
social occasion of the year. The
trustees saw other reasons for a new building. It could also
be used for
trustees' meetings, commencement exercises, and a library.
Smith Hall, named for
Gen. Benjamin
Smith (1756-1826)
, governor of
North
Carolina in 1810, was completed in 1851 at a cost of $10,303.63.
Initially the "library" housed only approximately 3,600 books, in
cases that could be moved aside to clear the floor for the annual ball. The two
debating societies retained their own libraries until all of the collections
were merged in 1886. Two new dormitories,
New West and
New East,
finally were begun in 1858. By the time they were completed in 1861, they were
no longer urgently necessary. Enrollments had plummeted to 129 students as
students and faculty prepared for war.
10. The debating societies appear not to have engaged in much
hazing, given the evidence of students' letters and society regulations. The
"fresh" sometimes had their faces blacked with lamp black, and they
were compelled to provide a "Fresh treat," wagonloads of watermelons
for all the other students. But the 1850s also saw the establishment of several
fraternities, and by 1860 hazing in these organizations had become enough of a
problem to prompt the executive committee of the
board of
trustees to condemn "the ridicule and petty annoyances practiced by
certain students upon new members of the
College" as "a cruel and contemptible
practice" (
Battle 1:713).
Delta
Kappa Epsilon organized a chapter at the
University in 1851;
Phi Kappa
Sigma and
Beta Theta
Pi, in 1852;
Delta Psi, in
1854;
Sigma
Alpha Epsilon, in 1857; and
Zeta Psi, in
1858 (
Battle 1:vi,
621).
11.
Battle
reports, "There was no sewerage system, and, until
shortly after 1850, slops were thrown from the windows freely" (
1:592).
Allcott notes that early architectural drawings as well as financial accounts
related to the construction of
University buildings make no mention of
"Temples of Cloacina,""necessaries,"
or outhouses (
14).
12. A
University education in the 1850s cost approximately
$250 a year, almost $5,000 annually in 1996 dollars (McCusker).
Tuition was $50 a year; a room in the dormitory went for $10 per
year, and board came to between $90 and $120 annually. Students
could expect to pay approximately $13 annually for books, $24 for
bed and washing, $11 for firewood and candles, $5 for servant
hire, and a $4 damage deposit (
1855-56 Catalogue 41).
13. Considering the close quarters in which students lived, the lack
of toilet and bathing facilities, and the possibilities for spreading diseases
through the use of common metal drinking cups and dippers, the wonder is that
more students did not become seriously ill and die. In 1858
Selina Wheat, wife of
Professor
John Thomas Wheat
and a devoted nurse to ailing students, successfully
petitioned the
trustees to build a small infirmary on a corner of the Wheat
property (site of present-day Spencer dormitory).
"The Retreat," a two-room, one-story cottage
built for $2,259.11, served as the
University's infirmary for the next thirty-six years
(
Henderson 177-78).
14.
The North Carolina University
Magazine
, begun as a project of the senior class in 1843, had
folded after a year. It was resurrected in February 1852. Managed by a
six-member "editorial corps" of seniors, the
Magazine
continued to publish essays,
poems, and an "Editorial Table" until May 1861.